How To Save A Scrub
by FoodOfLove
Summary: HSfic. Meredith Grey's having a rough time in Seattle Grace. She takes refuge in her friends and the dreamy Derek Sheperd. First GA fic. R&R MeredithDerek&MeredithGeorge.
1. First Day High

**First Day High**

**Meredith Grey.**

"Present," she responds, raising her right hand as her teacher called out her name. First week here… in this school, in this city… and the pressure was already there. Would she find anyone here who would help her feel more, should they say, comfortable? There she sat, back row, left corner, isolated. _Freak_, she scolded herself. She manages to sit through the whole period without another word. Ms. Lachet was explaining their French curriculum for the year. Meredith didn't take out her notebook and jot notes like she usually does, but rather just sat there, leaning back, doing nothing. This is inner torture.

The class begins to leave the room at the end of the period. Meredith stands up, but then she sees Ms. Lachet's towering figure looming over her.

"Congratulations," the perky woman said with a smile. "You just survived your first class. I'll see you in home room, Meredith." With that, the teacher leaves Meredith and allows her to stand up, carry her knapsack over her shoulder, and leave the room. A few steps down the hall and Meredith slips over a puddle beside the water fountain. Books splatter everywhere and glass lenses are shattered by an 8th grader sprinting by. Meredith silently bites her tongue in anger. She sees a blurred image of her books being lifted from the auburn-tiled floor. Her hands feel through the sloppy floor for her glasses until she touches what seemed like the chrome frames of her corrective glasses. She places them on, but the cracks give her a speckled image of a guy holding up the books for her.

"Are you okay?" the voice asks sincerely. "You wanna go to the clinic? I… I can take you there."

"Thanks," Meredith says with a smile as she stands up and takes her books from the young man's arms. "Sorry, it's my first day here…"

"Oh, that makes two of us," he says. "I'm Derek… Derek Shepherd."

"Hi Derek. I'm… Meredith. Meredith Grey… how do you know where the clinic is, if you're new?"

Derek laughs. "That was the first place I went to. I got cut on my way to school." He raised his jeans to expose a bandage that looked like the Japanese flag. Meredith bends down to take a look at it.

"Ouch, that must've hurt. Are you okay?" she asks, and Derek nods.

"You know, other girls might have jumped and squealed at me," Derek smiles. "So, I'll walk you?"

Meredith begins to tremble nervously. "A-are you sure? It's break… you should grab something to eat."

"No, it's fine. I'll take you there." Derek insists, and Meredith hesitantly agrees.

-

"Well, you're all right," said Dr. Simmons, the school physician. "However I do recommend that you get a new pair of eyeglasses. Do you have contacts?"

"No," Meredith replies uneasily. "I mean I do, but I left them at home. I didn't think I'd need them."

"Not to worry, we have some here." Doctor Simmons calls Nurse Matilda, who merrily hands Meredith a bottle of contact lens solution. "I'm assuming you know how to use this."

Meredith nods. She took off her eyeglasses and carefully places the contact lenses in her eyes. Derek watched near the door.

"That's better now, isn't it?" Dr. Simmons smiles at Meredith. "I also suggest that you watch your step next time. Have a great schoolyear."

Meredith stands up, thanks the physician and leaves the clinic, with Derek casually trailing behind her. Every step she took is filled with some sort of incomprehensible anxiety and at the same time, relief. Is it because of the ultra-gorgeous Derek Shepherd who was only a few steps behind her and was actually almost next to her? Noticing the latter, Meredith speeds forward unknowingly. As a matter of fact, she has no idea why her cheeks are beginning to redden just by walking, and _no_, she isn't exhausted because she's been walking for less than a minute. She slows down, so Derek doesn't get the impression that she's trying to avoid him. She stops and turns around to face him.

"Well, I have to go to class now. Sorry for ruining your break." Meredith apologises. "I'll see you around?"

"Just so you know, I insisted on bringing you to the clinic," Derek replies. "I also believe that you're in my biology class."

"Oh," Meredith mumbles, her cheeks blushing. "Okay. Well, I think we'd better go to class before we're late."

"I think we already are," Derek smirks, opening the door for both of them.

-

Unfortunately for Meredith, French and break wouldn't make up for the rest of the day. Sure, Meredith and Derek were assigned as lab partners, but that didn't change the fact that Mr. Bolton was a definite pain in the arse, because not only did he speak out of topic every five minutes during the introduction (seriously, though, it's not like anyone wanted to hear about the time when he fell off the Circle Line in New York because he was wondering if there were any fish in the Hudson) but for the last ten minutes he just made the class sit there, doing nothing. Talk about a bore. The next two periods were no different, because they turned out to be boring as well, and neither of them would be with Derek because he was a year above her and 10th and 11th graders didn't share the same Algebra and History classes.

During lunch Meredith has no choice but to sit alone because all the other tables are full. Actually, not really. It just so happened that every single person in every single table seemed to be glaring at her in a certain way which made her feel uncomfortable. Everyone looked smug, smug and pretentious, which is a synonym for smug. Derek was nowhere in sight at first, but when Meredith tried to look again she found him surrounded by about 5 girls who dressed the same, talked the same (not that they all had the same voice, but they all had that airy, dumb blonde voice that is a stereotype among cheerleaders and to no surprise, they _were_ cheerleaders) and pretty much looked the same because: 1. They all had their hair in the same high-set ponytail with the same red-and-gold ribbon. 2. They were all wearing uniformed red and gold varsity jackets and gold mini skirts with their identical white trainers. And then there's the fact that 3. All five girls carried that same smug-slash-smug-slash-smug-slash-pretentious-which-is-a-synonym-for-smug face when Meredith crossed their gaze. And what was possibly the most frightening part of that whole thing was that 4. They all looked at Meredith at the exact same time.

It is during lunch that Meredith realises that she may not have a place in the school at all, and that maybe Derek would just be nice at first and end up falling into that jock-and-cheerleader clique that is very prevalent in high schools at the time. For Meredith, what seemed to be the greatest difference between Seattle Grace High School and her old school in Portland (and probably every other high school in the entire United States or even the world) was that the rest of the world's high schools had room for every single type of person. It wouldn't just be jock-and-cheerleader, then the punks, then the geeks – those kinds of cliques would only exist in a vague way, and usually, everyone can just interact. In Seattle Grace, it seems to Meredith that the whole school is a jock-and-cheerleader-stereotype-run school, which means that it's a school of the utterly stupid, which means that Meredith seriously does not belong here because she is NOT a ditzy cheerleader. She just wants to finish high school so she can get into a good college, and then finish _that _and get a GPA over 3.5 and then go back to Seattle and be a surgeon, which means that Meredith has no time at all to fraternise with the rich, the blonde (figuratively) and the arrogant. Only one word, a one-word _question _at that, rang in Meredith Grey's head.

_WHY?!?!?!_

And so, sickened by the rest of the population in that ginormous hall that surrounded her, Meredith carries her tray to the nearest unoccupied table, sits down, and eats the salad. After that, she chugs down 500ml of Dasani in one breath, drops the tray onto the tray rack, and rushes to her locker. All in five minutes. Meredith wondered if she could do it faster during the schoolyear, because as far as she knows, it would be the same way for the rest of her high school career, unfortunately. Just by the way the first four to five hours of her first school day during her first week in Seattle had passed by, a whole film of the rest of her high school life just played in her mind. There would be tons of house parties, and Meredith would be the only one uninvited because she is the outcast and no one knows she exists. She left her old school with prospects that at Seattle Grace, she would actually meet her first boyfriend. However, all the guys in the school were the same person (even Derek, she thinks), which is a person that Meredith despises. She wouldn't be able to go to prom because she wouldn't have a date. And during graduation, her name would be skipped because the advisor reading out the class lists would think, "I don't think we have a Meredith Grey in this school." Wow. Could everything be any worse?

When her locker door swings open, Meredith hears a grunt, like someone just got hit by the door. Slowly pulling it back, Meredith sees Derek, his hand rubbing his nose.

"Oh, I'm _so sorry_," Meredith says, panting. "Are you okay? I didn't see…"

"No, I'm fine," Derek reassures her. "I was just wondering why you were sitting alone at lunch today. I mean, you could have eaten with me."

Meredith freezes for a second, and then she quickly takes her books from her locker, shuts the door, and turns back to Derek. "Wow, aren't you contented with all those girls surrounding you already? You want a sixth party now, is that what you mean? Sorry, but I'm not like that. At least your first day at Seattle Grace is doing great. Mine is a load of crap."

With that, Meredith storms off and into her English classroom.

Derek, his nose throbbing, says softly, "I didn't mean that."

And he walks away.


	2. You'll Be Safe Here

**You'll Be Safe Here**

"**Derek**, how was your first day?" Mrs. Shepherd greets as her son pushes their front door open. Derek takes a few steps towards her and kisses her cheek.

"Fine, Ma," he replies hastily before walking back to his room so he wouldn't have to hear his mother's "would you like something to eat?" and just curl up in his sheets and think. In Derek's current case, _think _means three things: 1. Think about that cafeteria, and how he could avoid that really annoying group of slutty and totally dim-witted cheerleaders from tailing after him, especially during lunch. 2. Think about how he could reassure Meredith that he's not the kind of person she perceived him to be, and 3. Think about Meredith. Since break it's like Derek can't take his mind off her. It's almost scary, because he's a junior and yet he's never really thought about a girl like this, not even in his old school last year with his ex-girlfriend Addison. It could have been Meredith's enigmatic exit today after lunch that makes him go mad over her. It could also possibly be the fact that Derek doesn't find Meredith annoying, slutty _or _dim-witted, unlike the other girls who asked him questions like "what's your favourite James Dean album". Derek can't even answer that question because 1. James Dean was an actor, not a musician and 2. James Dean died after only three movies. Derek knows that Meredith isn't like those girls. Derek finds Meredith… pretty. If only she would think about him in the same way… she doesn't even have to find him _pretty_, but Derek only hoped that Meredith would at least think of him as different from the rest of the crowd at Seattle Grace High.

Dinner today isn't very different from other days, except that the dining table is different and instead of the usual "how was your day?" inquiry that passed Derek's ears during the summer, Derek hears a casual "how was school, Derek?" from his ever-so-concerned mother.

"Fine, Ma," is Derek's vague reply. "Just… _fine_." He scoops some pork curry onto his plate and begins to eat away, when his father's voice suddenly comes out of nowhere and almost causes Derek to spit out the food in his mouth.

"I remember the last time I told my Ma I was fine," Mr. Shepherd begins, which in Derek's mind would lead to an hour-long story to how things were "back in the day". Thank God for gas, because all of a sudden Derek's father just had the urge to go to the bathroom. Derek sighs in relief, because for the first time this month he is able to dodge what could have been another one of those really annoying sermons where the message is already stuck in Derek's head and the repetition just drives all that "vital information" deeper into his brain until it all pops out of the other end. Fantastic.

-

The funny thing is that even the mere ritual of going to sleep is suddenly difficult for Derek. His eyes are wide open and when he tries to close them his wincers flutter right open again. It's not pretty. He can't even sleep for five minutes and it's pathetic. When he checks the clock, the bright red lines form the numbers 1:58 and the frustrated, sleepless Derek Shepherd decided to march downstairs and fix himself a cup of warm milk, just like when he was ten. It's two in the morning and Derek's state is pitiful. What strikes him the most in this situation is that he just met her today. What would happen to him tomorrow, or the following night? Then it dawned upon him, now _is_ tomorrow. Derek doesn't even know why thoughts of Meredith are keeping him awake. If he was just some ordinary love-struck guy, he'd actually be having bloody sweet dreams of her, and they'd probably end up in wetness (which would totally embarrass him when his sister wakes him up tomorr—in a few hours, rather).

It takes about twenty more minutes before Derek slouches back onto his bed and sinks into oblivion.

-

Squinting, Derek sees a blurry image in front of him. His room is a lot brighter than how it was at night.

"Derek, wake up," said the familiar female voice.

"Wha… what time is it?" Derek asks, his voice slurred. Clearly he is still half-conscious.

His older sister's figure begins to clear up and thank heavens for Derek, he is able to clearly hear his sister's answer: "7:25"

_7…shit_.

His seventeen-year-old body suddenly shoots up from his bed and Derek sprints to the shower. School's starting in five minutes. _Five bloody minutes_. Fantastic, isn't it? Now Derek has five expletive-filled minutes to take a shower, get dressed and run to school. No breakfast, no time to catch the bus… nothing.

Thank heavens that they live just a block away.

The cold jets of water from the shower are needles on Derek's toned back and unfortunately he has no time to use the soap, especially because it slipped from his grip and picking it up would only mean a few more seconds wasted on picking up that damn bar of soap. It's the second day of school and it's not in Derek's nature to be late. Out of the shower Derek skips the brushing-of-the-teeth and runs to his closet and throws on the first shirt, pants and shoes that he sees, boxers and socks included. Straight after, he grabs his bag and sprints to school. And sprint means _sprint_ – credit should go to his dad, who always thought that being unfit would make him just like his surgical patients. Mr. Shepherd saw to it that his children led the same lifestyle.

Thanks to Mr. Shepherd, Derek arrives in school right on time. Curses to Meredith, Derek still has to get to his locker and then his first class. There's this thing in their school where backpacks aren't allowed in hallways and classrooms anymore after the first day. It was called the no-book bag policy and everyone hated it, but had to live with it to avoid theft, faculty injury and detention. Apparently, the only excuse teachers give for continuing to implement the policy is that "there have been too many accidents". Curses to Meredith that Derek still has to walk slowly and casually to his locker (there's a no-running in the hallways after first day policy as well), take his books and pencil box, and go to his first class.

Biology.

-

"Are you mad at me?" Meredith asks, probably because she is beginning to notice her seat mate's indifference towards her. "Cos if you are, I don't understand why."

Derek remains silent. He doesn't want to talk to her right now. It's not the right time. He's been pissing about her since last night. Meredith's hand touches his arm and he shoves his arm away.

"What's wrong?" Meredith asks, to the attention of Mr. Bolton. Bolton is an arse. Derek knows and he knows Meredith does, too.

"Is there something going on back there?" he inquires. Once he spoke, the whole class suddenly turns their heads at the two, who sat at the back row of the classroom.

"Um, nothing." Meredith murmurs.

And it is silence between the two until lunch.

Curses to Meredith.

-

It's a relief for Derek that he isn't being chased around by chicks today at lunch. As his tray approaches the cafeteria lady Derek's eyes fall on Meredith sitting alone in an isolated lunch table. It is only then that Derek actually realises that without that posse of cheerleaders, he's just about as much of a loner as Meredith is. After his tray is filled, Derek feels no choice but to approach Meredith.

"Hi," Derek greets sheepishly.

"So, we're speaking now?" Meredith asks.

"I'm sorry about Bio class. Can I sit here?"

Meredith scoots over, but instead of sharing her bench Derek sits across from her.

"So are you gonna tell me why I deserved your cold shoulder in class today?" Meredith asks. The voice in Derek's head pushes him to answer; that wasn't a rhetorical question.

"I said I was sorry," was Derek's reply. "I was out of line."

_Out of line_? Derek knows it's a lame excuse for behaving rudely in front of a girl. It's one thing that she's pretty; it's another that he's only known her for two days. That's two reasons why saying he was "out of line" during Bio class is a lame excuse. He really was out of line, though, and it's Meredith's fault anyway (or at least Derek thinks it is) because she's plastered to his mind like a cast, except you can't take it off.

"Okay," Meredith says, even though it's clear to Derek that she isn't convinced. Derek isn't convinced why she has to care anyway. He just needs a place to sit in that won't make him look like a loser. Actually, maybe sitting with Meredith would already make Derek seem like a loser, anyway. Whatever.

"I just had a bad morning," Derek adds. Meredith raises her eyebrow at him.

_What kind of answer is she looking for, anyway? _Of course, she wants to know what happened… _why _Derek had a bad morning. What would Derek tell her, that last night he turned insomniac thinking about her; that his sister had to wake him up because he fell asleep so late and had five minutes to get ready for school just because he couldn't stop thinking about her last night? That it was all _her _fault?

Oh, screw it.

It was at that moment that the most curious thing happened. Derek leaned forward and kissed Meredith on the lips. It's not one of those gross open-mouthed kisses where the girl gets smothered in the guy's spit; it's just… a _kiss_, or at least that's all it is to Meredith, maybe, because Meredith's the one who pulls away.

"What was that for?" she asks.

"It was a test, and it told me something." Derek's cryptic reply made Meredith, of course, ask what it was. "Well, actually, that kiss told me three things. One, I know now that you want me and we're gonna date each other some time this year."

"Well isn't that surprising for you to say?" Meredith snickers with sarcasm.

"Two, that means it's gonna be a really interesting school year."

"What's the third thing?"

"You, my friend, need breath mints." Derek smirks. "Thanks for keeping me company."

He picks up his tray and leaves the lunch hall with a satisfied grin on his face.

-

After school, Derek finds Meredith following him on his way out of the campus.

"Derek?" Meredith calls, and Derek carries on walking. If she's gonna ask about that kiss…

Derek turns around. "I'm not gonna talk to you about that kiss."

"I wasn't gonna ask you about it."

"Then why are we talking?"

"Just so you know, I'm not gonna date you."

"Okay, so why are we talking?"

"Well, Derek, I…" Derek turns around and walks again.

"Derek!" Meredith calls again and runs after him.

A bus speeds by, but by the time Meredith gets another glimpse across the road, Derek is nowhere to be seen.

There's _another _satisfied grin for the road.

* * *

**here's a prompt for reviews! thanks**


	3. Heart Of Glass

**Heart of Glass**

Tuesday afternoon

"But **Meredith**, why not?" Derek asks again, standing outside her doorstep. Meredith has no idea how he knows her address (but who wouldn't, with her mother being a world-famous surgeon and all and living in the same city as him). "Why won't you go out with me?"

"Because… because you're too good for me," Meredith replies grimly. She is aware of the lame, clichéd excuse and is fully aware that it won't work. But she's desperate. "Why don't you just go out with someone from your little circle of pep squad fans and go at it? Just leave me alone."

"But I know you liked that kiss. There's plenty more where that came from and you know it," Derek smirks smugly at Meredith, who isn't impressed at all if not for his ultra-gorgeous looks. "Please, this Friday night. We can just catch a movie or something…"

"I can't, Derek. Please, just go. I—I'll see you in school." Meredith shuts the door in his face and runs to her bedroom. Heck, they've only known each other for two days and things were already happening. Meredith began to think nervously about what would happen tomorrow, and Thursday, and Friday, and the week after that, and the weeks after that. It's like the whole movie that played in her mind yesterday might actually change because of this Derek Shepherd character. Maybe her high school life wouldn't deteriorate as much as she's expecting after all.

But then the problem with Derek is that he's just so _vague_ – he kisses her, walks away, and then after school he says he doesn't want to talk about it; now he's wondering why she won't go out with him. Actually, even _she_ is also beginning to wonder why she's saying no to him. He's gorgeous and kind, but then he's also a bit too persuasive and of course, not to mention that his enigmatic aura really makes his actions rather hard to decipher. To Meredith he could have three possible intentions: either he already really likes her and is sincere about everything or he's just gonna see if she's an easy catch and end up playing her somewhere down the road… _or maybe he just wants to rape her somewhere down the road_.

Another knock on the door.

Meredith runs back downstairs; her parents are still at work and therefore she's alone at home (again). Meredith opens the door, frustrated at the fact that Derek's still standing there.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but I think I just asked you to piss off, Derek," Meredith says, now agitated almost to a point that she's actually impressed. "Or I'm gonna call the cops."

"For what?" Derek chuckles.

"Harassment," Meredith tries to keep a straight face and not give in to Derek's tempting smile. His lips are poison, and yet Meredith feels like once again she wants to taste the venom within. Self control is a bitch.

"Look, I already know you wanna go out with me, so why won't you?"

"Um, maybe because I _don't _want to go out with you."

Derek sighs. "Okay, fine. I'll see you tomorrow."

As he turns around, Meredith grins and takes a deep breath before she taps his shoulder to kiss him. Yes, this time it was _her _who kissed him. And it's full and Meredith feels a natural high as Derek's hands run down her spine. The venom begins to work its way through when Derek parts Meredith's lips open with his tongue, and Meredith falls into a euphoric state that she didn't even know existed back at the lunch room. The fact that the whole scene is illuminated by the moonlight plus the warm lighting coming from inside the house, Meredith begins to wonder why some people even _do _drugs. Kissing Derek is heaven, and when Meredith pulls away and Derek asks why, she smirks at him and says she'll see him tomorrow. Derek then smiles, places two fingers on his lower lip and turns around again, mounts his dad's Chevy and drives home. Damn, are hormones crazy or _what_?

Meredith closes her front door and runs back upstairs, wondering how the movie of her high school life would play out with Derek in it. The whole no-boyfriend-for-the-next-three-years thing may actually turn out different from what she thinks, and maybe she _would _have a prom date, and maybe she _could _actually be recognised during graduation and her parents are gonna send her to some Ivy League Med school and she'll be a surgeon whether or not her mother would approve of it. Well, that's how things would play out in Meredith's head when she thinks positively. Yesterday was the negative thinking and Meredith would die if she'd have that kind of high school life. Drowning in the Duran Duran tunes filling her room, Meredith ends up falling asleep, forgoing the shower and the stereo-stopping and the alarm-setting. Big mistake, isn't it?

-

Once she wakes up, it's already 9:30am and Meredith is already late; unfortunately blaming tardiness on musical groups and dreamy new classmates doesn't cut it for Meredith and therefore she has to blame it on herself. Upon waking up Meredith knows that she can either call in sick or call in tardy. Absence and tardiness have two different effects on school records. Saying she is sick would make a mark on her health record and being tardy goes on the student record as well. Apparently, being sick has more mercy to it on the report card.

Meredith goes to school.

The pressure is with the shower time and the changing and the breakfast, which she manages to breeze through effectively by skipping breakfast (her mum says it's a bad idea; it's dreadful) and is done in about ten minutes. She arrives at about 9:44 by car, right in time for second period. Thank heavens it's a Wednesday, and on Wednesdays classes start at 8:30 instead of the usual 7:30. Meredith figured that there's no time to go to the lockers, so she rushes to her International Studies class only to face trouble when Mr. "Stingray" Sturgeon finds a bag next to her seat. Thankfully, the Stingray let it slide since it's only the third day but swore to give her detention if he sees her khaki knapsack again; even if it wasn't the khaki knapsack, he'd still give her detention – hence Meredith has to remember to set the alarm next time.

The question of the current situation in Lebanon, no matter how important or intense it is, really doesn't bother Meredith at the time. She's exhausted from morning pressure and hungry because she didn't have breakfast. Oh, and _great_ – after lunch she has PE, which means that all the food she's about to eat is gonna be drained faster than it takes to actually digest.

Because of the late start, Meredith goes to the first assembly straight after second period. Because she is high school, it's the assembly first before lunch and not the other way around. Because of that, the chances of the really good cafeteria food still being in stock are slim. Because of that, Meredith finds herself screwed.

The sophomores sit in the left side of the orchestra seating of the theatre, which is actually the worst place to be in terms of watching productions and being watched by the speaker on the podium, especially if it's the high school principal standing behind that block of wood. Mr. Martell greets the student body and welcomes them to another great schoolyear, and Meredith is sitting with her home room at the back row and the seat farthest from the centre aisle simply waiting for this damn thing to finish so she can eat. The whole assemble feels like forever and unfortunately for Meredith, unlike other teenagers her brain seems to be disoriented with the whole idea of shitting off the brain from listening to boring lectures. That means she had to reluctantly listen to Martell announce council elections and review new policies and ask for comments and suggestions.

And just how desperate is Meredith for something to eat? Once they're dismissed Meredith Grey is the first person through the theatre doors.

-

She ends up having lunch with Derek yet again, her only friend in Seattle Grace so far (that is, _if _Derek can already be considered a friend after recent events and _if _Meredith and Derek will even have any more new friends for the rest of the schoolyear).

"So, I was just wondering…" begins Derek, but he is interrupted by Meredith.

"I'm still not going out with you," she says hastily, followed by another bite off her burrito.

"I was wondering who's gonna kiss who this time."

"Oh please, you've got to be kidding me."

"I'm not." Derek looks up at Meredith, who is currently at a very unglamorous and unattractive state, with her mouth surrounded by salsa on all sides. "You want me to clean that up for you?"

"No, you perv," Meredith says, expecting that Derek's gonna end up kissing her in public again. Instead, he just hands her a paper napkin.

"Fine, be that way," says Derek, who Meredith hopes doesn't think _she's _the pervert in the situation. Hah, maybe they're _both _perverts. The thing is, Meredith likes kissing Derek and it's more than clear that the latter enjoys it as well. Why Meredith hesitates so much to go on a simple date with the guy is a mystery. Yes, even to Meredith.

"Hmm, I'm impressed," Meredith grins before taking another bite. Burritos are her secret love.

"About what?"

"You're not asking me," Meredith clarifies. "I thought you were gonna, you know…"

"Gonna what?" Derek asks, pretending to be vague again (at least that's what Meredith thinks) until a girl approaches him and catches his attention by caressing his neck. To Meredith's surprise, she's one of those _5 girls who dressed the same, talked the same and pretty much looked the same_.

"Hi Derek," SKANKY CHEERLEADER NUMBER ONE greets with that airy, bubbly voice she has that irritates Meredith so much it's like her Vena Cava's gonna burst. SC1 turns to Meredith to give her a mere eyebrow-raise.

SC1 sits with Derek for the rest of lunch, much to Meredith's dismay. Meredith later finds out that her name is Alice, not to be confused with her friends Alexis, Allison, Alex and Alexia. _Talk_ _about_ _variety_, thinks Mer as her bored figure reluctantly tolerated Alice's gabbing. The cheerleader's such a goat, all she can talk about is fashion, nails and a crowd consisting of a hotel heiress that thinks she can sing, a formal Disney child star and a TV star whose character gets killed off the show. Alice would present Meredith a question about one of these things or ask for her opinion on something at least relatively associated with them and Meredith would either shrug or say, "Why don't you tell me about it?" Unfortunately, that question would only lead to the girl's continuous blabbing about topics irrelevant to either Meredith or Derek.

Meredith shoots Derek a look and he shrugs his shoulders. Meredith leaves the two after a while, something she should have done once the airhead even began talking.

Suddenly, the burrito doesn't matter anymore.

-

"Are you okay?" Derek asks Meredith quietly during Bolton's debriefing on the upcoming review unit on plant fertilisation. She doesn't respond for a while, and when Derek's attention shifts back to the teacher, Meredith finally responds.

"You didn't tell me you already asked someone else."

"Well, you wouldn't say yes to me," answers Derek. "Plus, I think Alice is pretty nice, don't you?"

_The hollow stick-figure? _

"Apparently I don't, Derek." Meredith says hotly. "You could've at least given me a heads up on that."

"You're not my mother. I don't have to tell you everything I do," Derek coolly adds despite Meredith's forthcoming meltdown. "Besides, I've only known you for three days. It doesn't really matter, _unless you're guilty_."

"Guilty about _what_, exactly?"

"Shepherd, Grey, out of the classroom _now_." Mr. Bolton announces, frustrated. The lab pair walks out of the room. "When you come back, I'm splitting you two up."

-

"That's _great_, Derek. Look what you just got me into." Meredith is annoyed and possibly more frustrated than Bolton right now.

"Anyway, that's over. You're feeling guilty that you kept on turning me down, aren't you?"

"You only asked me eight times yesterday, you know."

"So you're telling me you were gonna say yes?"

"I don't know," Meredith responds softly.

"Exactly."

Bolton soon talked to both of them and reassigned their seats. Meredith sat next to someone in her grade and Derek sat next to someone else as well, of course. Meredith didn't talk to Derek after that for the rest of the day. Every time she feels something for him – be it infatuation, envy or guilt – Meredith doesn't fully understand herself. Maybe a reason why she can hardly seem to understand herself when feeling something for him is because she can't even fully understand _him_. How depressing. All the complications occurring between the two over three days are almost abnormal, considering the small time frame. So many things usually don't happen in such a short period of time, especially when it comes to two total strangers such as Meredith and Derek that meet just because one just so happened to have slipped over a puddle of water and the other happened to be courteous enough to escort the previous to the clinic.

But right now, Meredith knows what she feels. She feels anger because Derek didn't even tell her that he already asked someone out _before_ lunch. She feels envy towards SC1 a.k.a. Alice because the SC might steal her seat at the lunch hall. Most of all, she feels guilt – heavy, tormenting guilt – that she didn't say yes when Derek asked her just because she likes to play hard-to-get. So maybe she ­_does _like Derek after all, but right now, at this point in time, she's almost at the point of hating him.

He makes her feel shattered.


	4. You Sexy Thing

**You Sexy Thing**

_Confusion_, the act of confusing or being confused. Its synonyms include bewilderment, perplexity, uncertainty, disorientation, disorder. It is a certainly obnoxious state to be in, especially at a time when full focus, attention and understanding are required. When one is confused, it is hard to organize and comprehend thoughts. Therefore, confusion is definitely a hateful situation and unfortunately for Meredith, she has to live with it for the next few hours. If it carries on until Thursday, she'll be pretty much screwed.

**Meredith **doesn't understand anything right now. She's supposed to be working on her French homework, but instead of composing a friendly letter to an imaginary friend named Danielle Rousseau she's lying on her bed staring at the ceiling without fully knowing why. She doesn't understand why Bolton seems to hate her – the whole no-talking-in-class rule still hasn't completely registered in her mind. She doesn't understand why her new lab partner, a certain George O'Malley whom she never knew existed until Bolton reassigned her as his new partner, wouldn't seem to stop glaring at her for the rest of the period. She doesn't understand why the Stingray is always on her tail. He's beginning to annoy her, but unfortunately Meredith can no longer have her schedule changed if she wishes to keep her electives. Lastly, Meredith doesn't understand at all the reason why Derek asks her out a few times and then just quickly shifts to another girl. Maybe it's because no one's really asked her out before, but then it's such a blur why of all the girls Derek would ask out, it would be Alexis. Or Alexia. What was it again? _Alice_… yes, Alice. And he calls her "nice". Meredith doesn't understand _that_, either. It's not that she should be blamed for it; Alice is as dumb as they can get.

It takes about two hours before Meredith decides to put off French homework for tomorrow _à cause de son confusion_. She seems to be too overwhelmed by everything going on and it's such a terrible situation to be in. Falling asleep is easy once again, but then before doing so Meredith makes sure that her alarm is set. It would be such a shame to be two hours late for school tomorrow. Her lullaby is a slurred melody in her head that she recalls from her father way back in the good times when her family was whole. Meredith falls asleep quicker than usual, and she is still wearing the long-sleeved olive green sweatshirt she wore to school today with a pair of shorts she threw on once she got home. It's already a surprise that she was able to change smoothly without toppling over in her disorientation. A deep sigh is all it takes, and Meredith's confusion dies as she enters an unfeeling void.

-

She wakes up in a flash, like how she really is on usual days once she hears her alarm sound off. Meredith follows her usual routine of taking a quick hot shower that lasts six to eight minutes followed by quickly changing to the first decent outfit that enters her mind. Today, it is a coffee-coloured graphic t-shirt and whitish pants with a pair of Chuck Taylors. She heads downstairs to make her breakfast and today she's having a bacon and egg sandwich for the road, along with a can of orange juice. Everything happens so quickly, and Meredith is out of her house by 6:45.

Living about twenty blocks from school, Meredith drives her red Mustang to school and is there by exactly 6:57am. She casually walks to the cafeteria to finish her breakfast and by 7:15 she would have enough time to walk to her locker to drop of her bag and collect her books and then navigate her way to her first class. Today her schedule consisted of PE, Humanities, History, Algebra and Art. Meredith finds it a relief that she doesn't have Bio today, which means that she doesn't necessarily have to see Derek for the whole day.

Phys Ed isn't one of Meredith's strong points, but she exerts enough effort to do her best each lesson. For the first few weeks, her class (which consists of tenth and eleventh graders) would be out on the field for football (ehem, _soccer_). It isn't until after the warm-ups and stretching that Meredith realises that the George O'Malley from Bio class is also in her PE. Coincidence also placed them on the same team for today's game.

"Hey again," greets George when he sees Meredith on his team.

"Hi," Meredith greets in return. "I'm Meredith."

"Yeah I know," he smiles (which Meredith finds cute) and then adds, although incoherently, "You're my lab partner… I mean I'm you lab partner… like you know how Bolton moved your seat yesterday… well I mean… you know… hi…"

"I get it," Meredith interrupts, chuckling.

Their team's leader is a Korean junior named Cristina. Her calm appearance is deceptive to the fierce creature within. As she gives her team instructions, Meredith can only listen in awe at the other girl's confidence and aggressiveness. She could only wish she'd be that way, except that Cristina got tripped over by the opposition, fell, and had to sit through the rest of the period in the clinic.

-

During lunch, Meredith spots Derek in the table where they sat together the past two days, but instead of heading toward him she takes a swift detour to the table where George and Cristina sat. During her first day, Meredith didn't even realise that the table existed because of how overwhelmed she was by the inauspicious majority of the cafeteria. George and Cristina were also with a tall blonde named Isobel, who also seemed like a nice person. Plus, Derek's still sitting with that girl, Alice; Meredith doesn't like her at all.

"Hey, can I sit here?" Meredith inquires discreetly. "Someone else took my table."

"Oh, sure," George says openly and even scoots over to accommodate her. "Here."

Meredith smiles at him. "Thanks."

"So, Meredith, you take Advanced Bio too, huh?" Cristina suddenly asks. "George just told me that you two are lab partners."

"Yeah, do you take it too?" Meredith responds.

"Yup, I'm in the other class with seniors."

"Seriously?"

"_Seriously_," Cristina repeats Meredith's question as a reply, and then shoves a forkful of lettuce in her mouth. "And Izzie, of course."

"Izzie, you're already a senior?" Meredith asks, clearly interested.

"Yeah," she replies shyly.

Meredith scans the lunch room and spots Derek in their table with that girl, Alice. And he's not just _with _her. He's also all over her, too. Meredith grimaces at the sight because she's disgusted, she's upset and she's jealous. Oh, _hell _she's jealous. Evil burning in her eyes, Meredith is at the brink of running to the parking lot and then ramming her car into the two. But of course, she loves her car and she doesn't want to get expelled. That would totally kill her chances of doing Ivy League. George catches her attention by placing his hand on her shoulder. If it had been a cold touch Meredith would have bitten it off, but lucky for him this wasn't the case.

"What?" Meredith asks impatiently.

"Whoa, chill… well um…"

Izzie suddenly broke out into a laugh. "Oh, I gotta hear this one."

"Well this Friday, um, _tomorrow_, a bunch of us are gonna watch a movie," says George sheepishly. "You know, I was wondering if you wanted to come with us."

Friday… isn't that the day that Meredith and Derek are supposed to watch a movie together?

"Sure," Meredith responds without a second thought. "That would be… _great_. Thanks."

George sighs in relief. "Cool."

"But you know what, I don't think I can go all of a sudden," Cristina says out of nowhere. "I just remembered… I have to go to tutorials."

"On the first week?" George asks uneasily.

"You know what? Me too." Izzie adds. "Sorry guys."

And the two disappear into thin air.

Meredith raises an eyebrow at George. "So, who else is coming?"

George hesitates for a moment. "Well… when I said 'a bunch of us', I kinda meant Cristina and Izzie, so that just leaves, you know…" He makes a gesture where he points to Meredith and then himself. Meredith stretches her lips across her cheeks in a sort-of smile to show that she gets it. George bites his lip. "So, do you mind if it's just you and me? I mean, I didn't know that they'd suddenly back out like that. You know… they totally said they were going. I have no idea what happened. But if you're backing out as well, there's nothing wrong with that… except you know… I'll have to watch the movie alone and…"

"You're stammering," Meredith interrupts. "Don't worry, I'll watch the movie with you." She places her hand on top of George's, which lies nervously on the tabletop. She's not sure if George is new as well this year, but he sure looks like he is. Meredith is sure, however, that George doesn't like being alone, so she'll grant him her company. Besides, if Derek asked Alice to a movie as well, chances are they'll see each other at the cinema. And if fate would place them in the same movie theatre, then _that's _something.

"Come on, let's go to class." Meredith suggests as it's already 1:10 and their last class would start soon. Art is Meredith's last class, and for George it's International Studies. Meredith teases him about the Stingray and warns him about the teacher's threatening appeal. George sighs in a low hum of anxiety, and Meredith softly says "see ya" before the two part and drift off to their respective rooms.


End file.
